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If I remember right Khalan, you are in Australia right? There is speculation that the game wasn't supposed to go on sale in AUS until April 1 and which is why the server is not accepting connections from the players in Australia. If you're not over there, then probably a whole other problem.

One of the threads on the ubisoft forums is full of people that have that message all the time, many of them from Australia.

Of course if you've been reading their forums I'm sure you've already seen all the posts from your fellow countrymates that have the same issue I would guess. (assuming that's where you live of course)

Not surprised. It's been almost a week since many people haven't been able to play, been a couple of days for me. At least now they've discovered the issue apparently.

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UPDATE:We have tracked down the issue - it's a problem that occurs when linking your keys to the multiplayer profile. Ubisoft GNS and TG-OPS are currently working on a solution - I'll keep you updated.

Once (or IF) they get the issue sorted I (and hopefully Pat and CB, and any others who own the game here) will let everyone else know how the DRM is going and whether we can actually play regularly or not. Although I don't think CB has had any issues so far.

I've only had two issues thus far, both times the game disconnected from the ubisoft DRM server while I was in the middle of playing a game, and both times I saved the game from the menu and exited to the desktop as that's what the game allows after it can't connect to the The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom ubisoft DRM servers.

Both times that it happend to me, I immediately went to the ubisoft official The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom forums to post a rant about being disconnected and not being able to play, and both times the forum was also dead. Meanwhile in another tab in my browser I went to about 6 other websites to check my connection and it was fine. My guess on those occasions was that the server was so overloaded with people trying to play the game that the hamster running the wheel had a stroke and they had to replace it.

// Me Rant? Such a mild mannered happy go lucky guy post a rant on the official forums? I'm sure none of you would be surprised that I have a dual personality, one that is mild mannered and happy over here and the other that is not afraid to lay into a developer and or publisher on their own forums. Hmmm, go figure.

it is my experience that those who complain about DRM requiring you to be online all the time spend the majority of their time on the internet anyway. sort of nullifies their argument.

re "if the server is down you cant play", well the same can be said for COD fans wanting to play multiplayer, the majority of which dont play single player campaigns. in the COD multiplayer scenario you must be online even if there is no DRM. you dont hear them moan

That's because most people have common sense enough to realize that multiplayer on servers requires internet access. The online DRM applying to single-player is the issue - what if I want to play the game on a train or a hotel room without wifi? What if my internet drops out, or the authentication servers are down - I can't play my single-player game? Is that actually reasonable to you?

Single-player always-on DRM only affects legitimate purchases - the pirates get to play the superior version with no such limitations.

These quotes sum things up nicely in my opinion:

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Christofer Sundberg, founder of Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, believes that DRM does nothing but punish legitimate customers, and is far from the solution to PC piracy that publishers proclaim it to be."I don't like always-on DRM solutions at all, since they offer nothing to the consumer. If you continuously give something extra for registering and being online, and award them for actually paying for and playing your game, it'd be different, but always-on DRM only says: 'Thank you for buying our game, we trust you as far as we can throw you."

Always On is by far and away the most egregiously stupid and unfair DRM to have ever been included with a game. It is of a level of such punitory idiocy that means if you do something so heinous, so criminal, as to have your internet connection drop while you’re playing, you get dumped out of the game.

With DRM that requires an internet connection to launch, every time, you are once again mindlessly and needlessly punishing your legitimate customers in a way that will not affect those with pirated copies. You will, once again, be selling a product with a serious and significant defect, that those who download it for free will not be encountering. There’s no logic or rationale that makes that okay. By requiring an internet connection for launch, on every launch, you punish anyone whose internet isn’t working, who wants to play away from home (on a train, on a plane, on a holiday in Cornwall, at their grandparents’ house, in their barracks…), or who cannot afford a broadband internet connection. It is cruel. It is stupid. It doesn’t work on any level. If you are listening, really listening, then stop this. Stop treating customers like criminals, and start showing respect to those who pay you significant amounts of money for your products.

I just finished the Settlers 6 Original Campaign, so I wouldnt be buying The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom in any case. I still got a lot of play time with the single missions and expansion. Being an older person, I dont survive in multiplayer long enough to enjoy the experiance. The series is. . . well. . . a bit too simple to play singleplayer for more than a single mission before moving onto something more challenging until the next time I just want a relaxing play session.

The whole DRM thing is rather ridiculous being it just fuels the pirated underground versions that tend to strip out all the protection and then actually fix glitchy/buggy stuff as a bonus. I have seen publishers and developers come and go, so in the long term such methods are more likely to kill a game series then wring out extra drops of profit.